Evidence of meeting #131 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was vote.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Yes. The lowering prices for Canadians act was designed to be complementary and was actually put in the system before some of the other legislation were actually proposed.
I'm not going to speak long on this, but I am going to point out that what we did have was testimony after testimony from witnesses, whether it was Mr. Iacobucci, Professor Ross or Mr. Hatfield.... We also had Mr. Bester, and Mr. Boswell from the competition commission, talk about this bill being an add-on and certain parts of it being important for Canadians. There could be some disagreement with some of the stuff that was actually proposed, but there was no disagreement that it was value-added, so I'm perplexed in terms of the support that has not been provided by the Liberals on this. It's unfortunate, because our Competition Act, as we hear it from the competition commissioner, is related to our productivity.
Again we have another missed opportunity, which is, sadly, the history of this place and of this committee in dealing with the act—it takes, basically, a decade to two decades to get fixed. Universally, all of our witnesses—and I asked them across the table several times whether they thought certain parts would actually help to get this changed in Canada—agreed to that, yet we can't find anything in this bill to protect Canadians. I find that an unfortunate, missed opportunity, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for the time.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Rick Perkins
Thank you, MP Masse.
Are there any further comments on the alternative title?
There being none, shall the alternative title carry?
(Clause 1 negatived: nays 6; yeas 4)
Shall the title carry?
NDP
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Rick Perkins
Shall the bill carry as amended?
I'm hearing noes and I'm hearing yeses, so we'll need a vote on this one.
Conservative
Conservative
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Rick Perkins
We're back in session.
Is there any more discussion on the bill?
MP Masse.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Thank you.
Can we get an update from the Liberal star chamber on what took place in the last 10 minutes and maybe get an indication of their vote?
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Rick Perkins
I'll leave that for a discussion amongst yourselves.
If there is no further discussion, shall the bill, as amended, carry?
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Rick Perkins
I'm seeing yes all around, so we don't need a recorded vote.
Thank you very much.
Conservative
Brad Vis Conservative Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC
On a point of order....
Oh, there are still two other motions.
Conservative
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Rick Perkins
Thank you.
Shall the committee order a reprint of the bill, as amended, for the use of the House at report stage?
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Rick Perkins
Thank you very much.
Before anything else, since we are done, may I ask the committee's indulgence to dismiss the officials?
Conservative
Brad Vis Conservative Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC
Seeing how efficient we were with our time today, I'd like to go back to Mr. Williams' motion from the beginning of this meeting, finalize our discussion and have a vote on this important matter about what we're going to do this summer.
